Next Generation Chipset

Closing Time

With the arrival of motherboards based on the 820 chipset, motherboards based on the BX chipset will slowly fade into the sunset over the course of 2000. In a time when video cards are obsolete every 6 months and faster CPU's released even faster, it's almost amazing that the BX chipset has lasted this long!

But with native support for the 133MHz front side bus, AGP4X, and support for the controversial (and expensive!) RDRAM, motherboards based on the 820 chipset have finally arrived.

Naturally, with their arrival it's assumed that they'll perform faster and offer a compelling alternative to the older BX chipset. After all, as we mentioned above, they offer new technologies such as the 133MHz front side bus and AGP4X technology. Today we bring you our review of one of the first 820 motherboards available on the market, the ASUS P3C2000; does it and the 820 chipset it's based on offer the performance we'd expect from a next generation product? We'll get to that answer and more, but first lets briefly discuss ASUS and the fine history they've had over the years.

ASUS: A brief introduction

If you're a devout follower of PC components, you're probably aware of ASUS. (Also known as ASUSTek) Since the company was founded in 1989 ASUS has become well known for its long line of high quality motherboards.

In fact, their dual processor line of motherboards has won a devout line of followers for their excellent stability and tweaking options rarely found in dual-processor 'boards. Like many of their American competitors, ASUS dual motherboards are available in a wide variety of configurations.

Because of this and their quarterly motherboard sales, ASUS is widely regarded as the number one motherboard manufacturer in Taiwan. With the great success their BX products (the P2B and P3B) enjoyed this retail success continued throughout 1999.

To ring in the brand new 820 chipset, ASUS continues their tradition of offering multiple versions of the same line of products. Our P3C2000 is one of many 820 products in their P3C series. For instance, in typical ASUS fashion they also offer P3C models with onboard SCSI, integrated LAN, dual CPU's, and all the above combinations!